Tombstone epitaph., 1887-12-17
PROFIT IN ALFALFA,

Some of the papers in the interior are
 calculating the amount of profit to be
 realized in raising alfalfa, and are advls-
 ing farmers to go into the cultivation of
 that plant on a large scale. Judging
 from the tenor of much that is said, one
 would be justified in concluding that the
 writers are of the Rip Van Wrinkle
 family and have just awoke to what has
 been going on here for more than a
 quarter of a century. The discovery
 would seem to have been made recently
 that there is no forage plant grown that
 will yield such large crops and as many from single seeding as will alfalfa. In a case which has recently come under our notice, it is stated as something won derful that an alfalfa field has been known to yield as much as twelve tons to the acre in a single season and that the hay is worth S per ton in the field. Among the items of expense is found one of s an acre for water. Certainly no one will dispute the exceedingly conservative character of this estimate. It might have been much more flattering, and still the brand of truth need not have been trenched upon. Instead of twelve tons to the acre in one season, there are many places in
 
 California where alfalfa has been grown for many years where crops averaging two to three tons to the acre, have been harvested seven and eight times in as many months, and after this heavy yield good pasturage has been furnished in the same field for tae remainder of the year. So much for the yield-now word as to prices. In the estimate under discussion $ per ton was mentioned as the average price for alfalfa, with the statement that in exceptional seasons as much as $6 ton was paid. To the alfalfa grower of Southern California this comes as re. hinder of times long since passed.
 Years ago when population was scarce, and the demand small, t sometimes hap. pened that alfalfa hay sold for as little as $5 or S6 per ton. That period has long since passed. For years the price has been appreciating until now it is only in exceptional cases that alfalfa can be bought for less than SI5 or SI6 per ton, while as high as $2o to S25 has more than once been the rate. It is not apparent, either, that there is any probability of these figures being appreciably lessened in the future. As the years go by the increases, the demand for feed for horses and COWS far outstrips the supply, and the alfalfa farmer continually finds himself unable to oversupply the demand. Formerly the southern counties were able to raise their entire supply of butter at kome, the alfalfa fields furnish ing food which was converted into milk and butter at the smallest possible outlay. At one time these counties were able to export the products of the dairy in large quantities. But now all this is changed. Instead of being an exporter, the south ern part of the State has become an i'm porter, and the large dairying counties farther north are called upon for supplies by the hundreds of tons. From present indications there seems to be little chance that this condition of affairs will soon or indeed ever be reversed, and for this rea- son it is apparent that the alfalfa grower has most fattering prospect. It is fact that many farmers in sections where oranges and raisins are paying at the rate of SIoo to $4oo an acre are seriously of the opinion that alfalfa yields more profit one year with another, than any thing else, and they are governing them selves accordingly. At any rate, as long as population is increasing at the present rate there can be no danger of an over- supply. And if the time ever comes when more alfalfa IS produced than can be pro6tably converted into butter or sold in the market, there will be still